The trouble developed, he said, because a few overzealous Aggies thought they were protecting the honor of their mascot. "Actually," Reveille confided, "I wasn't all that hot to be protected. I enjoyed the performance of the Rice band and found it amusing. I had never seen a 75-yard fire hydrant before."
In what may be a sad commentary on the quality of Southwest Conference football, the competitive high point of the season has turned out to the the Aggie_Rice halftime.
There appeared to be no malice in it when the Owls performed an out-of-step, off-key parody of the Aggie Fight Song, led by a fellow pretending to be pulled by an empty dog leash. Later, they formed a giant fireplug. Some of the Aggies responded not quite in the same spirit, cheerfully offering to knock their teeth out.
"Ninety-five per cent of all A&M students," said Reveille, "have a swell sense of humor."
He was reminded that some Cadets had poured out of the stands at halftime and attempted to storm the field. At least one Rice musician was punched. After the game, the Owls were pinned inside their own stadium for two hours, and needed a police escort to get through 500 hostile Aggies waiting outside for them.
"The tougher it gets," said Reveille, "the cooler the Aggies get."
Of course, the whole misunderstanding might have been avoided if the Rice band, affectionately known as The Mob, had not toyed so with tradition. Halftime is hardly the place to start getting original. Your traditional halftime show features a flyover by two dozen X-15s, a marching band playing a musical salute to George Patton, a medley of spirituals by the Texas Women's Prison choir, and a small dog of mixed parentage running across the field, pursued by two overweight security guards.
"Now that's football," Reveille agreed.
... [other fictitious stuff about Reveille]
"The Aggies have been good to me," he said, "and ol' Rev has been good to the Aggies. It's a great school ... all that tradition ... the loyalty ... the Corps ... the bonfire. We can laugh at ourselves, actually. We just get testy when other people do it."
When the Aggies lost to Texas on Thanksgiving Day, they failed again to accomplish their first winning season since 1967.
Reveille sighed. "We should have canceled the Texas game," he growled, "and challenged the Rice band to a rematch."